Sports
Booking grid, combined pitches and monthly passes: replacing the counter notebook
Published
The booking grid is the screen counter staff open most. This post shows how it replaces the notebook, handles combined pitches and signs monthly passes on the grid.
At most venues without software, the schedule lives in a notebook at the counter, plus a few Zalo groups and a spreadsheet for regular renters. Moving to software does not mean giving up familiar habits. The Sol26 SportTech booking grid is built to replace that notebook, and entering a booking is faster than writing it by hand.
What the booking grid is
The booking grid is a table with pitches along one side and time slots along the other. Each cell shows whether that pitch at that hour is free, held or booked.
Actions on the grid are built for fingers:
- Swipe across a range of hours to create a booking
- Drag a booking to another hour or pitch to move a customer
- Six shortcuts for a busy counter when used on a computer
Every booking, whether entered at the counter or from the app, sits on the same grid and passes the same database-level double-booking check.
Pitches and combined pitches
When building the grid, the owner enters each pitch with the name on the sign at the venue. For football venues with a 7-a-side pitch made of two 5-a-side pitches, the relationship is set once. After that, booking the 7-a-side locks the two 5-a-side pitches inside it, and the 7-a-side cannot be booked while either 5-a-side is taken.
Staff do not have to remember the combination rules. The grid shows only the cells that can still be booked.
Monthly passes signed on the grid
Weekly regulars are a steady income for many venues, and a common source of clashes when kept by hand. In Sol26 SportTech, a monthly pass is signed straight from the range just selected on the grid.
The software generates every session for the term and flags any that clash with existing bookings at the moment of signing. The owner resolves clashes before handing over the pass, rather than discovering them on the day.
The first screen: how today is going
The first screen is the Today overview. It answers how the day is going, and pending tasks have buttons that go straight to them. Counter staff do not need to go through menus to reach the grid or the counter.
Owners of several venues also get an all-venues overview on one screen.
Setting up the grid for a new venue
- Enter pitches, combined pitches and opening hours
- Enter the price list
- Enter existing monthly pass customers by selecting on the grid
- Train staff on the three daily tasks: open shift, sell, close shift
On the Cloud edition, the venue can start the day it signs, with no hardware to buy.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the venue have to stop taking phone bookings?
- No. Phone and walk-in customers are still entered by staff straight into the grid. App bookings come on top.
- How is a monthly pass created?
- Staff select a time range on the grid and sign the monthly pass from it. The software generates every session for the term and flags any that clash with existing bookings.
- Is moving a customer to another hour a lot of work?
- No. A booking is dragged to another hour or pitch by finger and passes the same clash check as a new booking.
- Does the grid work on a phone?
- Yes. The software runs in the phone browser and installs to the home screen like an app.
Sol26 SportTech
Sports venue management software and booking app
